Paul de Lagarde

Paul de Lagarde
Paul Anton de Lagarde
Born	(1827-11-02)2 November 1827 Berlin
Died	22 December 1891(1891-12-22) (aged 64) Göttingen
Nationality	German
Other names	Paul Bötticher
Occupation	Orientalist

Paul Anton de Lagarde (2 November 1827 – 22 December 1891) was a German polymath, biblical scholar and orientalist. He has been cited as one of the greatest orientalists of the 19th century.

Paul de Lagarde was born in Berlin as Paul Bötticher; in early adulthood he legally adopted the family name of his maternal line out of respect for his great-aunt who raised him. At Humboldt University of Berlin (1844–1846) and University of Halle-Wittenberg (1846–1847) he studied theology, philosophy and Oriental languages.

In 1852 his studies took him to London and Paris. In 1854 he became a teacher at a Berlin public school, but this did not interrupt his biblical studies. In 1866 he received three years leave of absence to collect fresh materials, and in 1869 succeeded German orientalist and theologian Heinrich Ewald as professor of oriental languages at the University of Göttingen. Like Ewald, Lagarde was an active worker in a variety of subjects and languages; but his chief aim, the elucidation of the Bible, was almost always kept in view. Lagarde was easily the most renowned Septuagint scholar of the nineteenth century, and he devoted himself ardently to Oriental studies.

His great learning and gifts were curiously mixed with dogmatism and distrust in the activities of others. In politics, he belonged to the Prussian Conservative party. He died in Göttingen on 22 December 1891.